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The Followers of the Ever Growing One
195
laxatives to purify the body or by appropriate medicines compounded from powders and oils.168
Except in ports, which were centres of sea trade, and important cities, where caravans of horses, camels and elephants were frequently arriving or departing or where boats were berthing if a river flowed through the centre, the rest of the population, in the villages, either subsisted on agriculture or on handicrafts. 169
Jinadāsa Gani was well versed in the literature, both religious and secular, of his day and age and in all the contemporary forms of art. He treats of each: architecture, sculpture, music, dance, and dramatic
art. 170
As regards the way in which the ascetics lived out the dharma and taught it to others, the cūrņi testifies to a suppleness of approach, an adaptation to circumstances and situations. These compromises permitted the dharma to take root, to survive, to gain new members, to win a certain prestige in society. However, this ascendancy was not accomplished without grave ill-consequences, in particular a certain relaxation in asceticism caused by too close an association with society as a whole and too active a part being taken by monks in the affairs of this world. The excuse was, as in all monastic traditions, that this proximity and social engagement is for the enhancement of men's spiritual welfare. Similarly the text speaks in detail of a certain type of bhakti in corformity with that already practised in Mathură. Here we find a form of worship addressed to the arhats, very elaborate in style, a veritable pūjā in which, as in Hindu temples, images become the centre of much ceremony with the ritual bath and the offering of flowers. Religious festivals are consciously observed. Stress is laid on fasting as a means to purification; frequent pilgrimages are undertaken. Furthermore, mention is made of certain
168 Ibid., ch. IV.
169 Ibid., ch. V.
170 Ibid., chs. VI-VII.
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